The fusion-fission hybrid will use high-energy neutrons produced by a fusion reaction to trigger fission in surrounding materials thereby boosting energy output and potentially reducing long-lived nuclear waste.
This… seems… highly theoretical.
It’s… It’s well within limits. Sustaining sequence.
Oh. Oh dear.
Is that a resonance cascade? Don’t see those every day.
Well you see. Mega projects in authoritarian countries rarely solve actual problem or serve a purpose. They‘re just there to make good headlines and be forgotten because the next mega project or innovation just made the news!
Are we saying things like the three gorges dam, china canals, and rail, are all just for show and don’t serve a purpose?
Partially yes absolutely. Some regions with more and more dams have recently experienced devastating floods, suggesting they‘ve tempered with nature a little too much. And yes, some of those new highspeed rails are barely ever used and mainly serve a symbolic purpose, namely connecting outer regions to the central power in Beijing in some way or form. Nearly nobody uses those and the best case scenario for them would be a war so they can transport masses of troops quickly.
i had no opinion and minimal knowledge about high speed rail in China going into this comment section, but it looks like the outer cities experience real estate growth in the wake of being connected by high speed rail, and reportedly the rail lines are some of the safest in the world. i can’t imagine criticizing a country for building too much high efficiency mass transit in advance
i can’t imagine criticizing a country for building too much high efficiency mass transit in advance
I mean the Nazis did that in preparation for their Blitzkrieg and the Holocaust so there are real examples why building seemingly overengineered and overly excessive infrastructure can be problematic. And besides a demonstration of power, I think some of those railways are exactly that. To transport troops or masses of prisoners quickly and efficiently. God knows they have enough of those.
It’s more accurate to say they might be, but not necessarily. China is very aware of the benefits of keeping ahead technologically.
I’d like to see a followup story published sometime other than the first of April.
OK. Here’s the real question.
Are they sharing that research? I ask because if we can all get our heads out of our asses on energy production that kinda… wipes out a major reason for wars. Oh sure there are lots of OTHER reasons, but getting that off the table of excuses would be nice.
Also using fission materials as a way to shield the fusion reaction is a damned interesting way of getting around the spalling problem of the fusion reaction destroying its containment walls.
In the sense that it does use more of the fuel, like a breeder reactor, that’s good. We need to stop claiming 95% good fuel to be “waste” that needs to be stored for a long time and instead just use it all up.
The other benefit I can think of is keeping the fissile materials always sub critical. You don’t have to worry about a meltdown if the reaction is not self-sustaining. It’s an odd marrying of technologies, but I think people are being too dismissive.
Although, I wonder if the true purpose of such a device would be high output breeding of fuel for weapons use.
So it’s a fission reaction boosted by fusion?
Essentially yes.
Normally, the amount of neutrons generated in a fusion reactor is an issue. Here it is an asset.
also known as a hydrogen bomb.
It seems like the opposite: fission triggered by fusion
Yes, the uranium tamper in a fusion weapon. Half of the energy in a fusion weapon comes from fast neutron fission, mostly in U-238. It’s not a chain reaction.
This is uncontrolled reaction. Chinese and other countries plan to be able to conduct the controlled reaction
This seems like a good step on the way to developing the technology necessary to build a fission plant in the future.
Huh, sounds like a neat twist on the accelerator driven subcritical reactor. I’ve no idea what the viability will be, but it also seems like a nice way to generate useful isotopes for nuclear medicine and shit.
EDIT: ah, it’s actually a pretty old idea, it predates the accelerator reactor concept by quite a bit.
Wait wait wait wait.
Don’t we already do this? Just right now we don’t do it in the same reactor?
No, we do this in a fusion weapon. Half of its energy output is from fast neutron fission of the uranium tamper.
fusion-fission power plant
Sounds like you’re just undoing your work. Put the pieces together, take them apart again. Energy!
Wake up babe new perpetual motion dropped!
Cool.
When can I expect my T-45?
